XXX 



Obituary Notices of Fellows deceased. 



change in the resistance of their skin which occurs under various emotions 

 might be measured and recorded ; one of the many interesting outcomes of 

 this work was that most people reacted to the threat of an injury, such as a 

 burn, much more strongly than to actual pain. During the air raids he had 

 his wife and others " on the wires " and noticed a corresponding effect. The 

 investigations on muscular work were carried out on himself, his friends, 

 soldiers, colliers, bootmakers, printers and many other classes. He found the 

 severity of the work and the output of CO2 were parallel. His method has 

 been criticised, as no account was taken of the oxygen usage, but Waller 

 never claimed absolute accuracy ; he regarded his " short method " for testing 

 the cost of work as a practical means to an end which can be accomplished 

 only with accuracy by much longer and more complicated methods. It can 

 be carried out while the work is in actual progress. It was his intention to 

 have compared the two methods in a parallel series of experiments had his life 

 been spared, but in criticising his critics showed that their longer methods did 

 not always give better results than his own. 



Waller's contributions to the literature of his subject were numerous, and 

 in addition to the books already mentioned, they were mainly published in 

 the ' Proceedings ' and ' Transactions ' of our Society, and in the ' Journal of 

 Physiology.' His academic distinctions were also numerous. In 1889 he 

 was made a Laureat of the Institute of France ; he received the Aldini prize 

 from the Koyal Academy of Science of the Institute of Bologna. He was a 

 corresponding member of many foreign learned societies and academies, and 

 an honorary member of the Council of the University of Tomsk. 



Prof. Waller married Alice Mary, daughter of the late Mr. George Palmer, 

 M.P. for Eeading. It was an ideal union. Mrs. Waller shared in all his 

 work, and he was a devoted husband ; her recent illness caused him to 

 relinquish his other work ; he took a room near the nursing home where she 

 was in order to be with her constantly ; later, when she returned home he 

 used to carry her to and from her room ; his anxiety about her was most 

 intense. 



He was an equally devoted father ; he had three sons, and two daughters, 

 all of whom survive him except the youngest daughter, whose tragic death 

 from drowning seemed to leave a permanent mark of sorrow in his character. 

 He was no doubt a physiologist first, but in this imperfect survey of his life's 

 work I have endeavoured to show that there were other sides to his 

 personality. He passed through many turmoils, of which the last (the 

 atte:npt to close the University laboratory while he was in full vigour 

 and it was in full swing of useful work) was by no means the least. He 

 won that victory ; he was a good fighter, an ardent and affectionate friend 

 and a great man. 



W. D. H. 



